55 Dogs Discovered Inside One Home

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By Jessica Toumani

Story Published: Oct 10, 2007 at 6:18 PM EDT

Story Updated: Oct 10, 2007 at 6:18 PM EDT

One home, 55 dogs. Once alerted to the situation by a relative of the homeowners, police and animal control needed gas masks to enter. A look inside this Decatur house, you see it covered in feces, a foot deep on the floors of certain rooms .

"I've seen large numbers before but, you know, I'm talking in the teens rather than 55 animals like that, so its one of the worst one's I've ever walked into," says Chief Ken Ketzler of the Decatur Police Department.

The older couple who owned the house on the city's south side, now condemned by the health department, live in a recreational vehicle right outside, they started out with two dogs which had puppies, two eventually turned into 55.

"I was shocked, I mean i didn't know anything about it, as far as i knew they only had like 1 or 2," says neighbor, Allen Knittle.

"They just said they knew they had a problem, but they just loved their animals and couldn't see getting rid of them so they just continued to let the dogs take over the house and finally they moved out rather than getting rid of the dogs," says Ketzler.

When animal control officers went to remove the dogs, they actually tried to escape from officers through the side of the house, perhaps a result of their lack of socialization over a period of years.

"The animals were all taken alive to the shelter in Monroe, but a lot of them are going to be destroyed because they are not socialized, a lot of them have never seen daylight in their life, been inside all the time," says Ketzler.

As for the couple, they did feed the dogs regularly. No charges will be filed because police say they don't believe the couple has done anything criminal. The house, deemed unlivable, will be destroyed within thirty days. But, for dog lovers everywhere, these images might last a lifetime.

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